title: Auditory sustained attention is a marker of unilateral spatial neglect.
abstract: The relationships between performance on a non-spatially-lateralized measure of sustained attention and spatial bias on tests sensitive to unilateral neglect were considered in a group of 44 patients with right hemisphere lesions following stroke. As predicted from earlier studies showing a strong association between unilateral spatial neglect and sustained attention, performance on a brief and monotonous tone-counting measure formed a significant predictor of spatial bias across a variety of measures of unilateral visual neglect. This study provides further evidence for a very close link between two attentional systems hitherto regarded as being quite separate, namely a spatial attention system implicated in unilateral neglect and a sustained attention system. A close connection between these two systems was predicted by Posner, who argued that the right hemisphere-dominant sustained attention system provides a strong modulatory influence on the functioning of the lateralized posterior attention system.
authors.affiliation: MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, U.K. ian.robertson@mrc-apu.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: I H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manly
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beschin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Daini
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haeske-Dewick
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hömberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jehkonen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pizzamiglio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shiel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015415:Biomarkers; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers